Free art workshops, Los Lobos and Santa Cecilia to celebrate Día de Muertos at Self Help Graphics & Art

Self Help Graphics & Art (SHG) will hold a series of free art workshops starting on October 3 to honor our muertitos, ending with its 53rd Annual Día de los Muertos Celebration.

The final celebration will take place block-party style on Saturday, November 7, 2026, featuring Los Lobos and La Santa Cecilia. 

The performance lineup curated by Quetzal Flores will also include Jimetta Rose and the Voices of Creation, Extra Ancestral, Chulita Vinyl Club and more.

SHG is collaborating this year with the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino as part of Of the People: The Smithsonian Festival of Festivals.

They will hold five free Saturday community art workshops at the East Los Angeles County Library (Community Room,4837 E. 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90022), each from 12–3 PM. Guided by SHG teaching artists, participants of all ages will explore traditional Día de los Muertos crafts — including papel picado and paper marigolds — as they create artworks honoring their ancestors and loved ones. Each week features a special project:

• Saturday, October 3 — Make Día de los Muertos stamp collages

• Saturday, October 10 — Make Día de los Muertos calavera (skull) masks

• Saturday, October 17 — Create Día de los Muertos recuerdo (memory) posters

• Saturday, October 24 — Paint Día de los Muertos “living candle” mini paintings

• Saturday, October 31 — Decorate Día de los Muertos candles

All workshops are free and open to all ages, and all materials are provided. Registration and full season details:selfhelpgraphics.com/diadelosmuertos 

As SHG prepares to reopen its doors in 2027, this year’s celebration marks the beginning of its homecoming to the Boyle Heights neighborhood. 

“Día de los Muertos at Self Help Graphics has always been a homecoming — a day when our community gathers to remember our loved ones through art, music, and ceremony,” said Paulina Flores, SHG Executive Director. “This year, that word carries even more meaning as we celebrate block-party style on Anderson Street and begin our return to our Boyle Heights home. Collaborating with the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and the National Museum of the American Latino affirms what East LA has always known: our traditions belong to the people who keep them alive.” 

The day will begin at 2 p.m. with a ceremonial procession, in which traditional Aztec dancers will guide attendees from Mariachi Plaza (1831 E. 1st St.) to SHG. The celebration follows from 3–10 p.m. just outside its Boyle Heights home (on the block of Anderson Street, right outside of 300 E. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90033). 

The fiesta will feature traditional Aztec dance, live music, community altars of remembrance and resistance, the Muertos Market featuring local artists and artisans, SHG prints for sale — including this year’s commemorative print by Consuelo G. Flores, produced with Lead Printer Dewey Tafoya — local food vendors, face painting and art activities.

Throughout the celebration, the National Museum of the American Latino will lead drop-in Día de los Muertos craft workshops, and the Folklife Festival’s “We Hold These Truths” oral history station will invite attendees to record interviews with community members significant to the tradition of Día de los Muertos in Los Angeles and beyond. Guided by SHG teaching artists, attendees can also create nichos (miniature altars) and jewelry boxes with Izzy Jaquez or paper lanterns with Joan Zamora.

“The Día de los Muertos celebration embodies one of the Smithsonian Festival of Festivals themes this year, which is ‘remembering together,’ specifically how communities gather to honor loved ones, ancestors, and histories,” said Sabrina Lynn Motley, director of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. “And as native Angelena, the opportunity to collaborate with our friends at Self Help Graphics, to be a part of their homecoming, and to bring the Smithsonian’s national initiative to Boyle Heights is particularly meaningful.”